


Le Café

by greywing (ctrlx)



Series: End of 2013 Orphan Black Prompt Fills [2]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 19:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ctrlx/pseuds/greywing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fill: Cophine coffee shop or high school AU.</p><p>Not quite one or the other, but there's Delphine Cormier, Cosima Niehaus, and a cafe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Le Café

**Author's Note:**

> For [glynnbearboo](http://glynnbearboo.tumblr.com/), who requested "cophine coffeeshop or highschool AU"
> 
> Full disclosure: I didn't really know coffee shop AUs were a thing until recently. So sorry if this is completely off the mark. Also, instead of "or" this might be slightly "and"? And maybe if you squint, it's not quite AU . . . ?
> 
> Please, please, please, please, please forgive me all the mistakes. This was written using very quick Googling. But I thought this setting and arrangement would be more interesting.

The creak and rattle of the door opening raised Delphine's head from the pages of her textbook. " _Bonjour!_ " she called out automatically, a smile lighting her face.

"Um, _bonjour_ ," came the response, uttered somewhat lowly, uncertain and decidedly not local in accent. Delphine rose from the small corner table she had commandeered for studying during the lull in between customers and eyed the newly entered woman more intently as she shuffled deeper into the coolly dim café. Upon closer inspection, the guest was quite young, almost certainly younger than Delphine herself, and shorter by a fair amount, particularly in a pair of sturdy walking shoes. Her long brown hair was currently pulled back into a serviceable ponytail, bringing out the roundness of her face, made rounder by the tight smile stretching her lips wide and the pair of glasses perched on her nose--which sported a little gold hoop through one nostril that looked incongruous on features so young. Her simple attire did nothing to age her, comprised of a light tee, khakis, and a backpack slung over her shoulders.

She endured Delphine's scrutiny in mute stillness, speaking only when Delphine's upward-traveling gaze met her eyes. "Do you speak English, by any chance?"

Delphine hesitated. She had studied English, of course, and had thrown herself into studying the language more seriously with an eye toward pursuing a higher degree in biology once she completed her undergraduate coursework, but she hadn't had many opportunities to converse in English outside of the classroom. At the query, she felt her brain haltingly kickstart translation functions. "Yes. A little."

"Oh, awesome," the girl breathed out with unmitigated relief, shoulders slumping. Delphine hadn't realized the foreigner had been so tense.

"Can I help you?" Delphine tried out hesitantly. "Would you like coffee?"

"I'd love a cup, but I'm not sure I can afford it," the girl said with a lopsided grin. It faded as the girl continued. "But maybe you could help me, please? I'm not sure where I am. Usually I wouldn't mind wandering around until I find my way, but it's getting late and I should probably get back."

"You are," Delphine enunciated carefully, feeling the clunkiness of the language in her mouth, "far away from, from where, ah, visitors usually see."

"Oh, I know, totally," the girl agreed. "It's why I'm lost. I was checking out the, um--" Her hands rolled around each other in the air. Delphine watched their movement, fascinated by the escalating agitation. "--railroad? I don't know the word for it in French."

"For trains?" Delphine provided.

"Yes! Where the trains run." Behind her glasses, the girl's eyes lit up and her words tumbled out in an excited rush. "I noticed some tracks that seem unused and I got curious, so I followed them and scoped out the surrounding areas. Did you know people have planted these totally full and beautiful gardens along the tracks?"

Delphine stared at the smiling foreigner, trying to sort into meaning the deluge of syllables familiar and utterly strange that had crashed upon her ears. She settled for simply observing, "I do not think that idea was safe."

The foreigner cocked her head. "No? It seemed okay to me. I mean--" She spread her arms. "I'm still in one piece . . . if completely lost. Is there any way you could show me how to get back to my hotel? Like, point me in the direction of the nearest tram or tell me what bus I should take?" She slipped one backpack strap off her shoulder and swung the bag around, dug around in the front pocket, and pulled out a folded map. Clutching it in her hands, she froze, eyes darting uncertain toward an empty nearby table, as if seeking permission. During their exchange neither had moved much, maintaining a distance of respect or wariness that now, at the stranger's request, would have to be infringed.

A bit overwhelmed by the sudden shift in her day--from quiet study to unlikely interruption involving speaking English and playing city guide--Delphine nodded slowly and gestured to the table. The grin that stole across the foreigner's face was like her earlier sigh, leaching unseen tension out of her small frame and offering a glimpse into parts unselfconscious. "Thanks."

They sprang into movement simultaneously. By the time Delphine made up the difference in distance between them, the girl had mostly wrestled the map open. A little shuffling had it oriented correctly and a second's consideration pinpointed their location. Delphine stabbed at their approximate whereabouts with a finger and then drew it along the path to the nearest tram, narrating each step and feeling gradually more and more as if she were roleplaying a scripted exercise out of an English textbook. (She had always imagined such scenarios to be wholly unlikely to happen and thus impractical to practice. She'd have been more amused if she weren't so concerned about speaking correctly.) _Gauche_ and _droite_ briefly threw up stumbling blocks that reduced Delphine to pantomiming one and then the other with the correlating hand. "Left," the girl clarified, smiling. "Right." She asked Delphine for the French equivalents, repeated them consideringly, and then shook her head and extracted a notebook from her pack. In neat, blocky handwriting, she jotted down Delphine's instructions, starting again from the top, nodding and checking her spelling against the designations on the map. When they reached the hypothetical end of the journey, the girl folded the notebook shut with a sharp snap. 

"Okay," the girl said, lifting her eyes to meet Delphine's. "I think I got it. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Delphine said, concluding every "directions in English" language exercise mock up to the last letter.

"You know what?" the girl said, refolding the map and stowing it away with her stationery. "A cup of coffee does sound really good right now."

Delphine's immediate reply was momentary bewilderment. 

"I can pay, if that's what you're worried about," the girl said hastily, pulling out a purse and digging out coins. "I just meant that, like, the other day we got coffee at a café and it was like twenty euros."

The rapidfire protest almost caught her at as much of a loss, but once she worked out the message Delphine smiled slowly. The coins sat in the girl's hand, not quite offered, but clearly displayed in good faith. Coupled with the girl's expression of earnestness, Delphine was almost tempted to tell the girl to put her money away. 

"What coffee would you like?" Delphine asked, moving toward the counter.

"An iced coffee, please?" the girl hazarded. "Um, _café glacé_?"

Delphine nodded. " _Oui_."

The girl approached the counter as Delphine swept around it. Examining the chalkboard menu to check the prices, the girl meted out a stack of coins onto the counter. Delphine glanced over, noting immediately that the stack was too high, but did not remark upon it. In a quick pass, she divided out the correct amount, only for the girl's hand to press upon hers and arrest her movements.

"I know you guys don't really do the tipping thing over here, but, you know, as a thank you for helping me out."

Delphine shook her head, pushed the difference back toward the girl. "Please. It was no trouble. I can make change for you."

The girl didn't look happy about that and made no move to pick up the money. Delphine suppressed a sigh. Silly American. (Probably. It was Delphine's likeliest guess at the moment. Though she had heard of Canadians who had put up protest over being mistaken for their southern neighbors.) She returned to the business of preparing the order, the smell of coffee brewing filling the small space with its lush aroma. Through the burble of the machinery, the girl called out, "Were you studying before I came in?"

"Hm?" Delphine glanced over her shoulder to see the girl squinting at her open text. "Oh. Yes."

"Science?" the girl asked.

"Biology," Delphine confirmed.

"Really? Cool. I'm going to study biology."

A current of surprise raced through Delphine. She paused. She was unsure why she should feel that way. Her classes weren't _so_ disparate in ratio that it was unusual to find another woman interested in the same subject. "At university?"

"Yeah, yeah. I start next semester."

"In . . . in America?" Delphine guessed.

"Is it that obvious?" the girl asked, leaning cross-armed on the counter. When Delphine looked over, the girl didn't appear the least bit sheepish. 

Delphine smiled slowly, returning to her task. "That you are not French? Yes."

The girl laughed. "Sort of regretting not taking French now. But your English is awesome."

Warmth heated Delphine's cheeks. "You think so?"

"Yeah, totally. Way better than my French."

Delphine laughed and turned to find the girl peering at her closely. Their eyes met and held for a second and then the girl quickly looked away. Perplexed, Delphine swept a loose strand of hair behind her ear and wondered what had just happened. She didn't dwell on it long, for another minute presented a finished cup that she set down in front of the girl. As the girl sipped at the coffee, sighing at the first taste of cooled liquid, they each hovered on their side of the counter. The girl concentrated on her coffee, having not looked up again at Delphine.

"So, um," the girl said into the cup, "are you studying biology?"

"Yes," Delphine replied. "It is my focus, at university."

"What do you plan to do with your degree?" the girl asked, sneaking a peek into Delphine's face.

Delphine inhaled deeply and released it in a gust. "I have been thinking about--continuing?"

The girl nodded. "Like get a Master's or a PhD?"

"Yes." Delphine tucked another escaped lock of hair back in place--perhaps the same one--and wondered if she should re-tie her hair, reflecting not for the first time that day that she shouldn't have bothered straightening it that morning knowing that the heat would just reduce her to putting it up. "It would be nice, too, if I could study in America."

"You should!" the girl enthused.

Delphine smiled. The girl was funny, yet too fervent for Delphine to be able to laugh at her. "At your university?"

"Sure," the girl answered swiftly, punctuating her enthusiasm with a nod. "Come to Berkeley."

Delphine's eyebrows rose. "That would be--I'm sorry, yes, Berkeley would be a good university to attend."

"Right?" The girl tugged at her ponytail, shrugged with the barest lift of her shoulders. "You could do it."

Delphine's brows furrowed. "Why do you say that?"

The girl fixed a sideways look on her, direct and infused with a degree of assured conviction. "I don't know. Just something about you."

Delphine laughed, unsure if this was American humor or teasing. But the girl's answering smile was all sincerity, couched in a little bit of shyness, that heightened Delphine's confusion. "I will think about it." She smiled at the girl. "And you?" she said, diverting the attention from herself. "What do you plan to do with a degree in biology?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't know yet. I think my parents want me to go pre-med, but, like, I want to see what the biology courses are like first, y'know? I don't know if medicine would be my thing, but I've always liked lab experiments. So maybe research?" She shrugged, more eloquently this time. "I guess I've got time to figure it out."

Delphine caught only about half of what the girl had said, so fast had she spewed it, but she nodded along. "You know how to follow a path."

The girl blinked at her, blank-faced, then grinned, comprehension reanimating her features in a lightning manner that was slightly fascinating. "Yeah, I do sorta get lost in things that catch my interest. But that's not a bad thing, right?"

"It is a good way to look at it," Delphine agreed, feeling herself smile. The girl's optimism lent color to Delphine's outlook on her own dreams and ambitions. She wondered if maybe she should apply overseas, if she'd like to pursue a career in some foreign laboratory. The future had seemed far away not too long ago--as if, as the girl had said, she had time to figure it out--but the next step was coming up faster and sooner than Delphine cared to admit.

Delphine wanted to think she could continue her studies, become a competent scientist, and distinguish herself with the same sort of finality that the girl casually asserted in her baseless claim. 

The thought tugged at the corners of her smile. Coming back to herself, she found herself once again under inspection. Caught, the girl looked away again, blushing faintly.

Delphine didn't let it go this time. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no," the girl insisted promptly, head snapping up and hands waving. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine." She wrapped her hands around the chilled cup, dropping her gaze into the liquid depths, and muttered almost too softly for Delphine to hear, "Just lots of pretty girls in Paris."

Befuddled amusement seized Delphine's features and contorted her forehead into a mass of wrinkles. "Does that you make you . . . erm, nervous? Why? You yourself are--mm--cute. Very cute."

The girl's head snapped up. "Really?" Her eyes swept over Delphine's features. Whatever she saw there dampened her excitement. "Oh. Yeah. Yeah, obvs. I mean, thanks. Cute. Yeah." The girl briefly shut up, her gaze focusing on nothing, and then finished abruptly, flatly. "Thanks."

Now Delphine was lost. Something like pity pricked at her but she had no idea why she should feel so towards this stranger. Yet the girl stood shrouded in an air inexplicably crestfallen. She looked like she needed a hug. After a thought, Delphine covered one of the girl's hands, still curled around her beverage, with her own and squeezed gently. The girl raised her head, startled. Delphine assured her with a smile. Slowly the girl smiled back.

In the lengthening eye contact, the girl's gaze shifted, just a little bit, to beyond behind Delphine and her expression froze. "Oh my God, is that the time?"

Delphine reflexively checked the clock behind her. "Yes?"

"Oh shit, I need to get back." Her hands slipped out from beneath Delphine's in a rushed panic to get the straps of her backpack slung back onto both shoulders. Delphine stood back and simply observed the girl's mad scramble, almost forgetting the coins still sitting on the counter until her eyes fell on them. She scooped them up and held them out to the girl.

"Here, take them," Delphine told her.

The girl calmed long enough to investigate Delphine's outstretched offering. To Delphine's surprise, she grinned and backpedaled away, toward the door. "Keep 'em. Come to Berkeley and you can buy me a cup of coffee. I'll show you around."

Delphine gaped at her. "I don't even know your name."

"Cosima." The girl put a hand on the door and pushed. "Cosima Niehaus."

"My name is Delphine," she called back as the door yawned open and the girl--Cosima--stepped into the street. Cosima grinned, her sharp canines lending her expression some especial mischievousness, and waved.

"Nice to meet you, Delphine!" The door swung back on its springed hinges, the shrinking space between it and the frame squeezing Cosima out. "Thanks for your help and the coffee! Come to Berkeley! Bye!"

"Bye," Delphine said as the door settled into its frame and locked in silence akin to the calm that followed the passing of a storm. Delphine stood staring at the door for a beat and then looked down at the coins in her hand. She shook her head and pocketed the coins. 

As she cleaned up, Delphine hoped Cosima Niehaus made it back to her hotel safely so she could return to the United States and attend Berkeley and "figure things out." If they both advanced in the field of biology, maybe Delphine would stumble upon her again someday, maybe they'd read each other's papers or meet at a conference. 

Delphine wondered if she would remember this day if that should happen. She wondered if maybe one day she'd buy Cosima a cup of coffee.

" _Improbable_ ," Delphine muttered to herself with a little self-deprecating smile and settled herself back at the corner table to resume studying, smile lingering long throughout the turning of pages.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I mentioned I quick Googled. Cosima was probably lost along some point of the ["petite ceinture."](http://www.anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=paris&thread=6767&page=1#176967) Not sure what the prices were back in 2001ish, 2002ish, when this would have taken place, but [the USD:Euro exchange rate](http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html) was much more in favor of the USD at points back then than it is now. I have never been to France or any part of Europe, which needs to be rectified, so please chalk up all mistakes to the silliness of an ignorant American. Thank you. I did make Delphine a few years older, but I think it made for a fun arrangement in de-aging them like this. 
> 
> Of course, thank you for reading. I hope this was fun. :)


End file.
